The overwhelming favorite dish by diners was course 4! Surprising to me was Heirloom’s dessert (course 5) getting slightly edged out by Passion8’s (course 6). Must be the chocolate sweet-tooth in me coming out. Congratulations to both chefs and their teams on a great night, and to Chef Luca Annunziata on the win!

In just a few hours, we’ll be sitting down to the first of the Fire In The City dates of the Got to Be NC Competition Dining Series for 2014 at Bonterra Wine Room. For those not familiar with the event, think Iron Chef, pitting two local chefs, a secret NC-sourced ingredient, and six courses to wow the dining room while making sure to incorporate the ingredient in each course. Attendees vote for their favorite of each course, while not knowing which chef came up with either creation. In the end, scores are tabulated and the chef with the highest score is crowned the winner for the night.

Now, do that over eight preliminary rounds, and another seven nights of the winners battling each other, and you get the winner of Fire In The City. Similar events take place in Wilmington, Asheville, Greensboro, and Raleigh throughout the year. In the Fall, winners from all five cities will meet in Raleigh to compete against each other in a champions round.

Tonight, we’ll see Luca Annunziata from Passion8 take on Clark Barlowe of Heirloom Restaurant. We’re excited to see the unique creations that are sure to come from these two talented chefs. If you can make a future competition, it is well worth your time!

About Christy & Jason

Hi! We're Christy & Jason. We eat and drink a lot. Some people live for their kids. Others live for their pets. We live for good food, drinks, and the experiences that come with finding both.

Most of our adventures happen in and around Charlotte, NC, though we've been known to make great discoveries in other nearby cities like Asheville, Charleston, and Savannah.

We hope you enjoy reading our blog. We'd love to interact with anyone out there reading our posts. As always, any suggestions for new places is greatly appreciated! Happy reading, drinking, and dining....

And if you're wondering about the name of our blog, find out more about Ditch Chicken.